William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. I feel that William Shakespeare is important landmark in English literature and it is important for students in school studying theatre and/or English to know a great deal of information about him.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608. These included Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth which are considered some of the finest works in the English language. Lastly he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.

Shakespeare was a part-owner of the famous Globe Theater which was constructed in 1599. When the lease on the Theatre expired they teared it down and moved it across the river in the middle of the night, and used material to construct the Globe Theatre. The globe was one of the greatest play-houses of that time, and many of Shakespeare's plays were performed there.

Throughout Shakespeare's life we see many changes in his style of writing which is rather interesting. In his early works we see a lot of comedies; however, later in life he starts to shift towards darkness and tragedy. This is where we see the plays such as Macbeth and Hamlet. There are many different opinions as to why he made this switch in his writing style. Some say it was family related and others suggest it was because he wanted to please the crowds. In my opinion I would have to say I think it was family related. I do not know much about Shakespeare's personal family problems; however, being part of a divorced family I have been through family issues and I could understand how he would change his style of writing if their were issues in his family. I feel that every playwright has a certain style of writing that they are good at, a style that just comes natural to them and this is why I feel that he would not simply switch his style of writing to please his crowd. He wrote because that is what he loved to do and if people liked it than great. He wouldn't change from writing in a way he loved to something different if he didn't feel the passion. Obviously something changed in his life that gave him the passion to write about tragedy.

One of the main reason's why I like William Shakespeare so much is because of the difficulty of his work. In high school we read a good amount of Shakespeare and at first I really hated it. I had a very hard time understanding what I was reading because of the way he wrote. My teacher spent a lot of time teaching Shakespeare to us and after a while I started to get a hang of the way he wrote. Once I started to understand the different sonnets and plays we read I started to really enjoy studying Shakespeare. The reason why I know how important it is to study Shakespeare is due to my high school English teacher.

Overall, William Shakespeare wrote with excellent writing skills. The way Shakespeare wrote has yet to be replicated since his death, which was nearly four hundred years ago. He is a very influential figure in history and studying his works and understanding them are crucial to understanding the history of playwrights, theatre, and the overall performing arts.